Lake Powell, Jan. 2011

With very light winds, the only disturbance to the water's surface is the wake of Ticaboo. The sky and clouds are reflected in every wake, making an interesting, repeating, pattern.



Huge alcoves, sometimes called amphitheaters, in the Navajo sandstone dwarf Ticaboo. This picture shows dramatic shadows, caused by the overhanging roof of the alcove.

This huge amphitheater in Willow Canyon, located on the Escalante River arm, of Lake Powell, is approx. 600 ft. wide, with a hight of approx. 300 ft.. The sunrise over the distant cliff, with deep blue sky, was dramatic.

Ticaboo is beached under the huge amphitheater in Willow Canyon. The alcove, on the opposite side of the canyon looks small - WAIT!!!

This light reflection pattern, on the canyon wall, has several names but I like "Light Web."

Ticaboo is beached in Forgotten Canyon. The stern of the boat is in anywhere from 12' to 30' of water when beached. Lake Powell has dramatic drop offs close to shore! At one campsite the depth of the water 50 ft. from shore was 435 ft., in the main channel of the lake.

Defiance House ruin, in Forgotten Canyon, is an interesting 1/2 mile hike from the lake, at its current elevation. When the lake is at full pool (3,700 ft. ASL) you can boat right up, below the ruin. The lake is currently at 3,624 ASL.

I told you to wait! This is Gary Ladd, standing on the rock rubble pile inside the "small" alcove, you could see across Willow Canyon. Reflections from the sandstone walls create the orange & red tones in the picture. I am almost 200 ft. from the opening of the alcove, a very scary place to be, if more rock were to fall from the roof, of the alcove.

This picture was taken from within the Kiva (underground religious chamber) at Defiance House Ruin, in Forgotten Canyon. This ruin was occupied circa 800-1200 AD.

These three warriors guard the Defiance House Ruin. The image of this pictograph has been used on everthing from books on archeology to tee shirts.

Sorry! Another duplicate I can't delete.

This campsite was in Padre Bay, the largest open bay on Lake Powell. The sunsets during this trip were spectacular and bring out the reds and oranges in the Navajo sandstone cliffs & buttes.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip and I sent a copy to Boat U.S. "Where Our Flag Flys."

Sorry Again. I can't figure out how to delete this duplicate!?&@#

On Jan. 19th 2011, I departed Wahweap Marina, on Lake Powell, for a seven night, eight day, winter, boating trip. My first mate, for the trip, was professional landscape photographer Gary Ladd. The pictures on this blog were taken by me but in the near future, I hope to post a few pictures taken by Gary on this trip. Gary's pictures are spectacular!

I've boated all over the world but this trip ranked as one of my favorites. We boated over 250 miles, exploring canyons, visiting archeological sites and just enjoying the quiet canyons, this time of year. We only saw four other boats during the week and three were National Park Service maintenance vessels. The other vessel was a bass boat, carrying four fishermen, sighted near Bullfrog Marina.

For those not familiar with Lake Powell, it is located on the Arizona/Utah state line. The size of the lake and the surrounding landscape is hard to convey. The main channel of the lake (former Colorado River channel) is 186 miles long. The lake has 1,960 miles of shoreline, that's more than the entire western coast of the United States from Mexico to Canada. Glen Canyon Dam impounds Lake Powell and the main channel averages 400 ft. deep at the current lake elevation.

The lake has 96 major side canyons. The lake is fed by four rivers, the Colorado, San Juan, Escalante and Dirty Devil, with the Colorado being the major contributor. Melting snow, during the spring, on the west slope of the Rocky Mountains, provides the majority of the water, that flows into Lake Powell.

I hope you enjoy the photographs. If you are a boater, you might be interested in the unique way of beaching and tying up a boat for the night. Two lines run, at a 45 degree angle, from the stern cleats to long spikes, driven into the beach. A ladder is used off the bow to access the beach. When wind was expected, we also put out a 40 lb. Danforth anchor, dug in on the beach, tied off, to a center forward cleat, or the bow eye.